USA > Indiana > Contributions to the early history of the Presbyterian Church in Indiana : together with biographical notices of the pioneer ministers > Part 3
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Of the Kekionga of the Miamis, the present Fort Wayne, almost a rival of Vincennes in antiquity, and fur- nishing, though for a somewhat humbler page, abundant
1 " Colonial History of Vincennes," pp. v. and vi.
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THE SETTLEMENT OF INDIANA.
materials for story and song, the records are less complete. The junction of the St. Mary and St. Joseph may claim, however, a place
in the annals of that momentous contest between French and English civilization, between Romanism and Protestantism, which was waged with alternating success, and with short intervals of repose, for more than a hundred years, terminating soon after the fall of Quebec in the establishment of Anglo-Saxon supremacy by the treaty of 1763. The massacre of the little English garrison three fourths of a mile north from [Fort Wayne] on the 27th of May, 1763, during Pontiac's war, was accomplished through the treacherous influence of French traders over the Indians. This was among the last exertions of French power on this continent, east of the Mississippi. It was a subsiding wave on the outer circle of the long agitated waters.1
The population thus sifted and disciplined by provi- dence, and at last receiving its characteristic tendencies from the region immediately beyond the Ohio, was one that naturally appealed to the Presbyterian Church for sympathy and help. The response came heartily and promptly from Kentucky.
1 " Historical Sketch of the First Presbyterian Church, Fort Wayne," by Judge Jesse L. Williams, pp. 3, 4.
CHAPTER III. THE FIRST MISSIONARIES. 1 800-1806.
THE first decided drift of population toward Indiana set in at a period especially favorable to the work of evangeli- zation and to the establishment of Presbyterian institu- tions. It was soon after the opening of the present century. Kentucky, upon the southern border, with a large Calvinistic element among her people and a consider- able number of ardent and able Presbyterian ministers, had been aroused to the highest pitch of religious enthusiasm by what is still described as "the Great Revival." They could not be indifferent to the spiritual condition of the settlers across the Ohio, among whom were their former neighbors and friends. The General Assembly was under a like impulse from on high, and was appointing itinerants for the regions beyond.1 At the same time the great mis- sionary awakening began to move New England, and resulted in the formation of those home and foreign mis- sionary societies which have since exercised so vast a power. A little later, too, there was a movement west- ward from Ohio, which contributed valuable aid, partic- ularly to settlements near the eastern line of Indiana. From a variety of sources, therefore, and from widely separated regions, the gospel came, at this auspicious epoch, to what was now the farthest West.
Naturally the first laborers were from Kentucky, the nearest neighbor, still under the stress of the revival. They were volunteers. As early as 1804, 5, and 6 they 1 In 1805 the Assembly commissioned Thoma's Williamson, and in 1806 Samuel Holt, to Indiana.
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THE FIRST MISSIONARIES.
made "short missionary excursions" to the neighborhood of Vincennes.1 They were members of Transylvania Pres- bytery-Rannels, Robertson, McGready, and Cleland:
SAMUEL RANNELS was born December 10, 1765, in Hampshire County, Va., where he remained with his ' father until he was nearly twenty years of age. He grad- uated, March, 1792, at Dickinson College, then under its able president, the Rev. Dr. Charles Nisbet. He received licensure from the Presbytery of Lexington, Va., in 1794. In the following spring he came to Kentucky, having a call to the united congregations of Paris and Stoner- mouth, which he accepted. Ordained in 1796 he returned to Virginia and was united in marriage, May Ioth of the same year, with Margaret Gilkison. Coming to Kentucky he labored in the field to which he had been called for more than twenty years, the relation being terminated by his death, March 24, 1817.
Mr. Rannels was about six feet in height and well pro- portioned. He was of an amiable disposition and agree- able manners. Solemn and affectionate in the discharge of his office, he was orderly and punctual in all his trans- actions. His pulpit exercises were of various degrees of excellence, sometimes far above mediocrity, but on other occasions noticeably deficient in power. In the great re- ligious excitement prevailing in Kentucky in 1802-3, and which was attended with much irregularity, finally pro- ducing heresy and schism, Mr. Rannels was among the first and foremost to raise a note of warning. It was then that he gave some of the happiest illustrations of his im- pressive pulpit abilities. To him and a few others in those perilous times, the church in Kentucky, particularly the Presbyterian body, owed its defense and support so far as human agency was concerned." He was one of the first of
1 Dickey's " Brief History," pp. 11, 12.
2 Bishop's " Memoir of Rice," pp. 166-8. Davidson's " Kentucky," p. 115.
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EARLY INDIANA PRESBYTERIANISM.
the Kentucky ministers to cross the Ohio into Indiana.
SAMUEL B. ROBERTSON received ordination in 1801 and became pastor of the congregations of Cane Run and New Providence, where he continued until 1811, when he re- moved to Columbia, Adair County. Subsequently he was pastor of Lebanon church for four years. " He lived to a good old age and, having fallen upon sleep, he chose to be buried in the graveyard of this church by the side of the wife of his youth.'' Admired as a preacher,2 though not a man of commanding abilities, his name is prominent in the Indiana history, as by him was effected the organization of the first church.
JAMES MCGREADY not infrequently repeated his early excursions to Indiana. Nature had commissioned him as an exhorter, and with the. populace he was a great favorite. On special occasions, during the ten years previous to 1817, the pastor at Vincennes often summoned him to his aid. His tremendous oratory at "the Presbyterian Stand" in the woods, addressed to thousands of people attracted from an incredible distance, was as stern and faithful as the " cry- ing in the wilderness" of Judæa. A large man, inclined to corpulency, with a voice of thunder, the " hideousness "3 of his face seemed only to render his habitual denunciations of sin more terrible. He was born of Scotch-Irish parents, on the Monongahela, in western Pennsylvania, in 1763, but while he was still a child the family removed to North Carolina, near the present Greensboro. In 1783 he was converted, was soon persuaded of his call to preach the gospel, and after a course of study in Dr. McMillan's school, subsequently known as Cannonsburg College, he
1 Hogue's " Historical Discourse preached in the Presbyterian Church, Lebanon, Ky.," 1857, p. 13.
2 See " Life of Cleland," p. 127.
3 Davidson's " Kentucky," p. 132.
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THE FIRST MISSIONARIES.
received licensure from Redstone Presbytery. Returning to North Carolina, at a funeral, in compliment to the young minister he was invited to ask a blessing preparatory to the usual unstinted dispensation of whisky on such occa- sions. His prompt refusal to "insult God by asking a blessing on what was wrong "' produced great excitement, and the pungency of his subsequent preaching resulted in a remarkable revival which extended through Guilford and Orange Counties-the second general revival in North Car- olina after the War of the Revolution.
This revival was attended with no unusual appearances or ex- ercises. The opposition to the close and practical preaching and renewed discipline never broke out into violence but in one case. At Stony Creek there were some families of wealth and influence that had become loose in their religious views and morals during the disturbance of the war and the presence of the armies ; these opposed Mr. McGready's course and preaching, and proceeded from one step of opposition to another, till their dislike exceeded all bounds. Some of these, during one of their nights of revelry, made a bonfire of the pulpit, near the church, and left in the clerk's seat a letter written with blood, warning him that unless he de- sisted from his way of preaching, their vengeance would not be satisfied with the destruction of the pulpit, and his person would not be inviolate. McGready, as might have been expected, not in the least intimidated by the burning of the pulpit or the letter, con- tinued to preach as usual,2 and the opposition, confined to a few, died away. Ina few years the dissipation of these families became the ruin of their character and property, and after the lapse of a short period not a descendant of theirs could be found in the con- gregation.8
In 1796 McGready removed to the southwestern part of
1 Foote's " Sketches of North Carolina," pp. 371, 372. Later in life, when suffering from exposure, he unfortunately indulged too freely in a needed stimulant, and was so ashamed and penitent that he ever afterward observed that day of the month as a day of fasting and prayer. See Davidson, pp. 260, 261.
2 The following Sunday he gave out the psalm beginning " How are the seats of worship broke."
3 Foote's " Sketches of North Carolina," p. 375.
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EARLY INDIANA PRESBYTERIANISM.
Kentucky, and assumed charge of the Gasper, Muddy, and Red River congregations. His fearless proclamation of the law produced here the same results that had been wit- nessed in North Carolina, the revival of 1800 having its commencement under his ministry. Its earliest manifesta- tions are described by McGready himself.
In July the sacrament was administered in Gasper River con- gregation. Here multitudes crowded from all parts of the country to see a strange work, from the distance of forty, fifty, and even a hundred miles ; whole families came in their wagons ; between twenty and thirty wagons were brought to the place, loaded with people and their provisions, in order to encamp at the meeting- house. On Friday nothing more appeared during the day than a decent solemnity. On Saturday matters continued in the same way until in the evening. Two pious women were sitting together conversing about their exercises ; which conversation seemed to affect some of the bystanders; instantly the divine flame spread through the whole multitude. Presently you might have seen sin- ners lying powerless in every part of the house, praying and crying for mercy. Ministers and private Christians were kept busy dur- ing the night conversing with the distressed. This night a goodly number of awakened souls were delivered by sweet believing views of the glory, fulness, and sufficiency of Christ to save to the uttermost. Amongst these were some little children, a striking proof of the religion of Jesus:1
The subsequent extravagances of this period found in McGready a sincere and powerful apologist, and he was finally involved in the controversies out of which grew the Cumberland church. He was, however, too clear in his theological views, too thoroughly in sympathy with Pres- byterian forms, and too strongly attached to the old church, to be contented in the work of schism. He went far enough to receive censure, but made suitable acknowl- edgments and was restored to his former ecclesiastical standing. The Cumberland church, however, still revere
1
1 McGready's " Posthumous Works," pp. ix., x.
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1004001
THE FIRST MISSIONARIES.
him as their founder,1 and after his decease, which occurred in Henderson County in 1817, most of his adherents united with that body.
Too eccentric and excitable to be safe in his leadership, no doubt the evangelical preaching of McGready was most useful to the feeble Indiana church. It is likely that many of the discourses which constitute the volume of his " Posthumous Works" were heard by the immense audi- ences attracted by his fame to the sacramental meetings along the Wabash and the Ohio. Their titles sufficiently suggest their vividness and force-" The Blinding Policies of Satan," "The Sinner's Guide to Hell," " The Hope of the Hypocrite," "The Deceitfulness of the Human Heart," "The Doom of the Impenitent." In a letter ad- dressed to Samuel J. Mills, during his tour of observation in the West, McGready writes, April 27, 1815, from Red Banks, Henderson County, Ky. :
If some religious tracts were in my possession showing the vanity and soul-destroying nature of giddy balls and vain amuse- ments, some treating of the importance of secret prayer, some of the danger of quenching conviction, some giving an account of extraordinary conversions-such, I think, I could distribute to advantage.2
Everything this mighty backwoodsman said and did showed the singleness, the intensity, and the sagacity of his aim.
To those who at this period came from Kentucky upon an occasional preaching tour must be added the name of James Kemper. He had been from 1791 to 1796 the first settled minister3 of the First Church, Cincinnati, constitu-
1 Smith's " History of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church " contains full notices of his character and career.
2 " Report of Smith and Mills's Tour," p. 52.
3 Kemper came from Virginia to Tennessee as early as 1783, and thence to Kentucky in 1785. He was licensed to preach, after four years' study under David Rice, being already the father of ten children. He was the first minister ordained north of the Ohio, and preached the first sermon at the first meeting of the first Presbytery that con- vened in Ohio, it being his own ordination sermon. Born in Fauquier County, Va., November 23, 1753, married July 16, 1772, to Judith Hathaway, he died August 20,
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EARLY INDIANA PRESBYTERIANISM.
ted by "Father Rice," but he afterward returned to Ken- tucky. As early as 1804, and for several years subse- quently, he visited Rising Sun, Samuel Fulton, a worthy pioneer, opening his cabin for the religious services which Mr. Kemper conducted. 1
Such irregular and infrequent efforts as have been de- scribed could effect but little however. There was need of systematic ecclesiastical supervision, and Transylvania Presbytery may claim the honor of making the earliest recorded appointment of missionaries to Indiana. At Danville, April 14, 1803, it was resolved that Archibald Cameron supply "in the Illinois grant and at Post Vin- cennes settlements,"2 James Vance being associated with him ; and although neither performed the duty assigned, their reasons for failure being presented and sustained at Hardin's Creek, October 5, 1803,3 as Archibald Cameron is a name well known in Indiana, whither subsequently he came more than once to preach, we may pause a moment to look at this Kentucky John the Baptist, the forerunner of the whole vast army of missionaries since commissioned to the same field. A native of Scotland, brought by his parents to America when a child, he became a thorough mathematician and classical scholar, studied theology under Father Rice, after seven years' service at Simpson's Creek took charge in 1803 of the Shelbyville and Mul- berry churches, and remained with them until his death, which occurred in 1836. He was an old bachelor, blunt in his manners, independent as a Highland chief, shrewd, satirical, and orthodox to a fault.4 "He often preached 1834, his widow following him March 1, 1846. Fifteen children were born to them. Cf. " Presbyterianism North of the Ohio," a semi-centennial discourse delivered before the Presbytery of Cincinnati, April 9, 1872, by the Rev. Joseph G. Monfort, D.I).
1 Goodrich and Tuttle's " History of Indiana," p. 491.
2 " Minutes 'Transylvania Presbytery," Vol. II., p. 72.
3 " Minutes Transylvania Presbytery," Vol. II., p. 75.
4 His orthodoxy, at least on one occasion, was the cause of some embarrassment to him. Dr. Beatty was fond of relating that in the Assembly of 1835, when the irregulari-
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THE FIRST MISSIONARIES.
three full hours, and when he got waked up on baptism could preach six hours." In his later years, helpless from paralysis, surrounded but often neglected by his blacks, contented with corn and bacon, on a small plantation near Shelbyville he maintained a gruff baronial hospitality. He published a number of able pamphlets1 and in the Cumber- land controversy was a prominent and useful conservative.
"Supplications for supplies" were now frequently sub- mitted to Transylvania Presbytery. At Danville, October 17, 1804, "a petition was received from Post Vincennes praying for supplies."2 April 9, 1805, "a petition from a number of inhabitants of Knox County, Indiana territory, praying for supplies was presented and read." Two days later "Mr. Cleland was appointed to supply in Indiana territory as much of his time as he can with con- veniency."3 He discharged the duty, and thus became the first official delegate who labored upon this field. If his own qualities had been less captivating, and his service of the church in Indiana less important, the lending of a son for so many years to that service would still require us to review his career and character.
THOMAS CLELAND was for many years the most popu- ties in the Western Reserve were under review, and when he himself had to make his maiden speech in the Assembly, Cameron, jumping upon a seat, delivered a violent philippic against the disorders in the region referred to. Upon the Assembly's adjourn- ment, Cameron, returning home, was overtaken by the Sabbath at Cleveland, and called upon young Mr. Aiken, the pastor there, expecting to be invited to preach. But Aiken, who had been at the Assembly and had heard Cameron's speech, slyly suggested that upon the " Reserve " they had had so much trouble with impostors that they were com- pelled to refuse admission into their pulpits to ministers without written credentials. So the doughty Kentuckian had to listen patiently next day to two good " New-school " sermons. See also Sprague's " Annals," Vol. IV., pp. 163-72.
1 Among these are: "The Faithful Steward, being an impartial investigation of the subject : is the church justifiable in baptizing adults without evidence of their faith and repentance, and in baptizing the children of any parents who do not likewise give evidence of being the subjects of faith and repentance," Louisville, 1806; and " A reply to some questions on Divine Predestination, with some remarks on a pamphlet entitled, ' The Trial of Cain,'" Shelbyville, 1822.
2 " Minutes Transylvania Presbytery," Vol. II., p. 103.
3 " Minutes Transylvania Presbytery," Vol. II., p. 111.
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EARLY INDIANA PRESBYTERIANISM.
lar Presbyterian preacher in Kentucky. Born in Fairfax County, Va., May 22, 1778, removed in childhood to Maryland, and afterward in. 1789 to Kentucky, educated at the Kentucky Academy and at Transylvania University, though he had chosen the law for a profession he was seized upon by the Presbytery and licensed April 14, 1803. He had previously made effective addresses at religious meetings, crowds being easily drawn together when "it was noised abroad that little Tommy Cleland had com- menced preaching." His success made such an impres- sion that the Presbytery soon interpreted it as a manifest call to the ministry. The night of his marriage to a daughter of Captain John Armstrong Presbytery convened in Mr. Armstrong's house. Then and there he was exam- ined, as he supposed with a view of giving him license to exhort, but notwithstanding his protestations they enrolled his name as a candidate for the ministry. He urged his new domestic responsibilities, his limited education, his want of theological books and teachers. It was quite impossible, he argued, that he should now think of the ministry as a profession. The hour of midnight drew on. Alexander Cameron, bachelor though he was, said, "Let
the young man alone.
His wedding day is not the time
to consider such a call." But, as the captive declares in his autobiography, he was "completely taken in by the Presbytery," which "assigned me as a part of trial for its next spring meeting a sermon from the text, 'Woe is me if I preach not the gospel.'''' Thus entrapped Cleland soon made good proof of his ministry, becoming an acknowledged leader in the work so well begun by the older generation under Father Rice. He was settled first in Washington, and afterward at New Providence in Mer- cer County, where he remained until his life was gently closed, January 31, 1858.
1 " Life of Cleland," p. 70.
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THE FIRST MISSIONARIES.
The Presbytery could have sent no better man to the wilderness. Of small stature, but lithe and hardy ; plain in dress and manners ; prudent and sensible ; not without wit ; a sturdy controversialist though loving peace ; a dili- gent writer for the press ; in the pulpit full of pathos and of Scripture ; a tireless itinerant and revivalist, his selection was an admirable one, and the service required just at the beginning of his public career must have proven a valuable experience to himself. Of his tour to Vincennes we have an account from his own pen :
Transylvania Presbytery had no definite limits in a southern direction. It also included Indiana, etc., on the north. In the spring of 1805 I was directed to visit Vincennes and the adjoining regions. It was an uninhabited route I had to go. A small wilder- ness trace, with only one residence on the way, in the most destitute part of the way, to entertain me during the night. Here was my poor animal tied to a tree, fed with the grain packed in a wallet from Louisville, and myself stretched on the puncheon floor of a small cabin, for the night's rest. All passed off, however, without any detriment or discomfort. The next evening made up for all previous privations. I was welcomed and agreeably entertained at the governor's palace during my stay at Vincennes. The late William H. Harrison, then a young man, with a Presbyterian wife, was governor of the Indiana territory, as it then was. He had recently held a treaty with a certain tribe of Indians, who assem- bled at Vincennes.
The first sermon I preached, and it was the first ever preached in the place, at least by a Presbyterian minister, was in the council- house, but a short time before occupied by the sons of the forest. I preached also in a settlement twenty miles up the Wabash, where were a few Presbyterian families, chiefly from Shelby County, Ky. They were so anxious to have me settle among them that they proffered to send all the way to Kentucky to remove my family, without any trouble or expense to myself, besides offering me a generous support. I somehow or other, from the beginning of domestic life, had my mind determined on residing in a free state, and here was an inviting prospect. I was indeed anxious to comply with their wishes. But besides the heavy contest for my land with old Colonel Shelby, now in process of litigation, the
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EARLY INDIANA PRESBYTERIANISM.
Lord was showing me special favor with my people at home by an unusual blessing upon my labors. But still they were not willing to give the matter up, and that we might have a little more time to reflect and inquire of the Lord what was his will and pleasure concerning the wished-for change in my field of labor, I engaged to make them a returned visit the next year. I did return at the time appointed. The prospect seemed brighter than before. I was welcomed on all sides, by men of the world as well as by men of the church. And what was more I was welcomed by some poor sinners too, whom the Lord gave me as souls for my hire. And though I was prevented from settling among them, for the reason already specified, yet for a number of years afterward I received messages from those who claimed me as their spiritual father ; and for aught that I know some remain there till the present day.1
The following year (1806) 2 this mission of Cleland bore fruit in the establishment of the first Presbyterian church in Indiana. Dickey supposes it to have been the earliest Protestant organization in the territory, but this is perhaps an error. The Baptists seem rightly to claim precedence. A competent authority says :
It was not until the year 1798 that the first Protestant congrega- tion was organized in Indiana territory. This was a Regular Bap- tist church, composed of four members and established on the Philadelphia confession of faith. The organization was effected a
1 " Life of Cleland," pp. 87-9.
2 This has been questioned, an effort having been made to substitute 1802 as the correct date. But the following facts are conclusive in the matter : (1) The later date rests on the authority of Dickey, who wrote in 1828 and was familiar with the whole history ; (2) Cleland distinctly says that in 1805 he preached the first Presbyterian sermon in Vincennes (" Life of Cleland," p. 88); (3) A few aged persons still survive who came to Vincennes several years subsequent to 1802, but remember being present at the organization of the " Indiana " church ; (4) Accounts agree that Scott came to Vin- cennes to preach the year after the organization ; but he did not receive licensure until December, 1803, and was installed pastor of the Mt. Pleasant church in Kentucky in 1805. The records of West Lexington Presbytery report him absent, October, 1807, on a mission, the Assembly having appointed him (" Minutes," 1806) to "be a missionary for three months in the Indiana territory and especially at Vincennes "; (5) Samuel J. Mills, in a letter dated January 20, 1815, speaks of Scott's " valiantly maintaining his post for six years past." After his tour in 1807 he had gone back to Kentucky for a time.
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